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The Incredibles (2004)
The Incredibles (2004)
2004 | Animation, Comedy, Family
Family friendly (3 more)
Funny
Good fight scenes
Good use of superheroes
Villains powers (0 more)
Brilliant family film that all will enjoy!!
So they live in a time where heroes are forbidden and Mr incredible is struggling to adjust. Disney have done a really good job in the scripting to show in his dialogue the problems he's facing. The animation as well is really impressive within his facial expressions.

After dismissing one of his fans from when he was a public hero, he receives an anonymous letter offering a heroes job. Now, for anyone else who shares my point of view. If I received a anonymous job offer worth thousands off of a stranger, I'd be speaking to my partner as that is creepy! Instead Disney took the approach of he is that desperate for the recognition of being a super he accepts without any thought or hesitation.

After dismissing the initial issue upon his first job, he begins a sort of partnership with this stranger only for it to be revealed as his childhood fan who he dismissed. The villain naming himself as syndrome has invented his own gadgets granting him powers like flight, zero gravity lasers and others.

Syndrome develops a robot that is essentially impenetrable. He holds a remote to dismantle it and has a genius master plan to get rid of all supers and essentially become the only super available. The rest of mr incredibles family get wind of what has happened and go to rescue him only to get caught as well and essentially be at syndromes disposle. Now let us just dismantle that one moment, a company as big as Disney has decided that this robot can be controlled by a remote, it has it's own computer processor so is aware of everything and is impenetrable. Am I the only one who sees the flaw that it can think for itself.? No? That's alright then.

The actors voice overs are really good and give the sense of urgency and emotion throughout there performces. This only adds to the big final battle. With a few funny moments in the film and bit of a slow moving middle filled with a sped up montage of mr incredibles training, I would say this film is definitely a very good family friendly film that will give a laugh and a very good evening with all the food on the table.
  
Marvel Dice Masters: Avengers vs. X-Men
Marvel Dice Masters: Avengers vs. X-Men
2014 | Collectible Components, Comic Book / Strip, Dice Game, Fighting
Many games are standalone, meaning that the base game has all of the components necessary for play. Many games also later add expansion content. Some games fall into the “collectible” category – you start with a base set, and slowly add new game components over time. Dice Masters is one of these collectible games, specifically known as a collectible dice game (CDG). You can find many versions of Dice Masters, spanning from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Dungeons and Dragons. No matter the theme, however, the game always works the same way! My experience is with Marvel Dice Masters (from different sets), so that will be my focus.

You and your team of superhero comrades come across a group of rival supers. Maybe you’re all having a disagreement (a la “Civil War”), or maybe one of them ate your lunch out of the fridge at work. No matter the reason, your teams have agreed to fight each other. Each hero brings unique powers to the fight, and the last team standing wins!

Dice Masters is a competitive two-player game. Each superhero team consists of up to 8 heroes and 20 custom dice. On your turn, roll your dice to generate energy, recruit heroes, or attack your opponent! Some of your heroes might have special powers that can positively affect your dice rolls, or could even negatively affect your opponent’s available dice. Strategy is everything – the first player reduced to zero health loses!

A game of battling superheroes – awesome, right? Maybe not AWESOME, but I think it’s mostly awesome. The most frustrating part of Dice Masters for me is the “collectible” aspect. A basic starter set provides you with a decent amount of cards and dice, but in order to build a complete, fully-functioning team, you need to buy more components. The first couple of times I played, I was using only the starter set and I didn’t yet realize that this is a CDG. I only had heroes with basic powers and dice, and I failed miserably in those games against a seasoned Dice Masters player (Travis). Thankfully, my opponent gave me a bit of advice – do some research, find heroes with powers that complement each other, and build a strong team that way. He helped me build a team, and I bought those new components. I used that team in my next game, aaaand I still lost…but it was a closer game! I have since crafted a couple of more teams and acquired the necessary components, but this game definitely takes a lot of forethought and research for success. It’s not one you can just necessarily pick up and play right away.

I think that Dice Masters has more of a learning curve than the average two-player game. It is a pretty strategy-driven game, and that strategy is based on your chosen team of heroes. If you aren’t completely familiar with their powers or the special symbols on their dice, you could be missing out on some serious advantages in your fight. Each turn also has many elements to keep track of (roll dice, re-roll dice, spend energy, recruit/field heroes, use abilities, attack/defend, etc.), and it can be easy to forget a step. Once you get the hang of it, though, the game flows better. It definitely took me quite a few plays to get everything mostly down. So if you’re looking for a more complex dice game to play, I would say give Dice Masters a shot!

I like the theme, mechanics, and strategic implications of Dice Masters, but I don’t really like the collectible aspect of the game. I don’t get to play it too often, but I do enjoy getting the opportunity to play. All in all, Purple Phoenix Games gives Dice Masters a 18 / 24.

https://purplephoenixgames.wordpress.com/2019/01/02/dice-masters-review/
  
Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game
Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game
2012 | Card Game, Comic Book / Strip
Teamwork makes the dream work! That’s how the saying goes, right? And in Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game, it is certainly the truth! When I say it’s a team-building game, I mean that both literally and figuratively – you must recruit heroes and work semi-cooperatively with your fellow gamers to defeat the evil Mastermind before they take over the city!

In an era where superheroes are the norm, the days of petty crime are over. As the protectors of our world have grown in power, so too have those who would see it fall to chaos. Out of the shadows comes a nefarious Mastermind who has engineered the most wicked evil scheme the world has ever seen. With an ever-growing band of followers and henchmen to carry out the plot, the future looks dismal. But do not fear – the supers are here! This job is way too big for only one single hero to handle, but if they all band together, then maybe, juuuust maybe, they might be able to pull it off…

DISCLAIMER: There are several expansions to this game, but we are not reviewing them at this time. Should we review them in the future we will either update this review or post a link to the new material here. -T

Set in the world of Marvel comics and, recently, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Legendary: Marvel is a cooperative deck building game. Players take turns drafting and playing cards to recruit heroes to their team and to fight off the villains trying to carry out the sinister scheme. You have to strategize how you want to build your deck to best complete the mission – do you recruit heroes that give you special abilities (like drawing additional cards), or do you recruit strong heroes that give you lots of attack points? The choice is entirely up to you! Although all players are building their own individual decks, you must also devise a team strategy because all players either win or lose together as a team. That being said, there is a small competitive aspect to this game – the player with the most Victory Points (earned by defeating villains and rescuing bystanders) is deemed the most legendary hero of the game! Exactly how competitive the game gets is up to the players. I personally prefer a more cooperative approach and usually don’t tally up VPs at the end of the game – either the team won or we lost.

The beauty of this game is that it can be played with any combination of Marvel characters – you are not limited to only using specific teams. Selecting which heroes/villains/Mastermind/etc. to use is at the discretion of the players. Want Iron Man to team up with Deadpool and Wolverine to fight off Kingpin? Go for it! You have basically the entire Marvel universe from which to choose, so the sky is the limit! With so many options, though, it can be a little overwhelming, so I usually use a randomizer app to create a setup for me. Sometimes the setup itself will determine how the entire game will play out – certain combinations of Mastermind/villains/scheme can be BRUTAL to play and difficult to win. But the cool thing about this game is that you cannot just look at a setup and tell if it will be difficult or not – that realization only will come once you start playing!

I love playing this game because of its immense variability – the base game alone has 500 cards! The ability to choose your own heroes, villains, Masterminds, and Schemes means that you will probably never play the same game twice. And on top of that, Legendary: Marvel currently has like 19 expansions! The possibilities are truly endless, and that is the Holy Grail for me when it comes to gaming. I know that I will never get bored of this game because it is a different experience every game.

On the flip side, my main grievance with Legendary: Marvel is with the physical setup and teardown. Every play uses SO MANY cards that it does take a decent amount of time to get setup or put away. Every individual hero/villain/Mastermind/etc. must be sorted and stored separately, and with 500+ cards, that time adds up. When deciding on a game to play, sometimes I skip Legendary: Marvel because of the time it takes to set up. I LOVE to play it, but sometimes I do not feel like taking that much time to set up – I just want to play! My other grievance deals with certain hero superpowers/special card text. Some hero cards have special text, and the definitions are outlined in the rule book but not on the cards themselves. Until I learned/memorized what that special text meant, I was constantly referring back to the rule book nearly every turn to make sure I was using the cards correctly. There is a bit of a learning curve with some of the hero text, but it does get better the more you play!

Don’t let the simplicity of the mechanics fool you – this game requires more strategy than meets the eye! You must not only decide on a strategy for building your individual deck, but you and your teammates must also collectively choose a group strategy to defeat the Mastermind. Cooperation is key, and it really helps the theme of the game come to life. Definitely a winner for Purple Phoenix Games with a butt-kicking 24 / 24 and a well-earned Golden Feather Award!